Peter Grant makes bold claim about Daizen Maeda, says Celtic shouldn’t have sold Adam Idah

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Wilfried Nancy was asked a few questions about Daizen Maeda on Tuesday.

He was firstly asked about his likelihood of leaving, given his expectation to leave in the summer. Nancy insisted that Maeda was happy at Celtic.

Afterwards, he was asked where he thought Maeda’s best position was, between up front and out wide.

Nancy’s answer? “Both.” In a team which is badly lacking goals, the Hoops boss is clearly happy to have his best attacker wherever he asks him to be.

But Peter Grant doesn’t agree, and thinks that the team could be doing with another man who left in the summer…

Peter Grant’s bold claim about Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah at Celtic

Maeda was Celtic’s Player of the Year and top goalscorer last season, with a total of 33.

Third in the ranking was Adam Idah with 20. He is now at Swansea City in the Championship.

READ MORE: Celtic’s most likely time and price to sell Daizen Maeda named by Mark Guidi

And given the team’s struggles in front of goal this season, Grant thinks that they’re missing Idah.

He told the Go Radio Football Show: “That’s why I think January is so important. Celtic will need to have a striker.

“The game on [Sunday], missed a few chances… and I’m not saying anything against Johnny Kenny. Johnny Kenny was never going to be your number nine.

“And I said that about Daizen Maeda. He’s not a Celtic striker. And I know he got 34 goals, and I said last year, I said he was not the man to lead the number nine position.

“And I tell you what, I’ll say this now: Celtic would be in a better position if Adam Idah was here just now.

“And that’s bringing in Iheanacho and all these guys. [Idah] should still have been there, and he’d have had more game time.

“Even the way this manager wants to play. I’m just saying that if you’ve got somebody leading the line who wants to take the ball in, people run off him and crosses get in the box.

“And you’ve got a striker who wants to play in between the goals. And if you look at his goals – what is it, 22 goals last year?

“And he only played, if I remember it at the end of the season, three 90 minutes. Only three games. That’s what I think it is: three games, four goals.

“But I think that’s why it’s so important. He was 24 years of age, am I right?

“And I watched him the other night, and he’s not playing, and the goalkeeper makes an error – and this is what I always think about strikers – be aware. If the keeper drops, be ready around him.

“He was the only player. No defender, nobody else. You think the keeper’s going up there to catch it with both hands, game’s finished… he drops it, and Adam Idah’s gone one way, toe-poke, goal.

“Just because he had that wee bit of instinct.”

Idah has three goals in 18 Championship appearances this season.

Celtic’s dearth of goalscorers

Idah isn’t the only ex-Celtic striker now struggling in the Championship; Kyogo Furuhashi is still yet to score a league goal for Birmingham City.

Celtic’s second-top goalscorer last season was Nicolas Kuhn, who made a big-money switch to Como. He too is yet to score this season.

Regardless of how the exports have performed, Celtic’s abject failure at replacing these goals has been stark.

Benjamin Nygren has managed a respectable total of eight, but that’s the most of all the summer signings. The fact that Kenny is still leading the line tells you everything about what’s needed in January.